Author(s)

Kensuke Kuroda^1*, Kenta Igarashi², Hiroyasu Kanetaka³, Masazumi Okido¹

¹Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
²Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
³Liaison Center for Innovative Dentistry, Graduate School of Dentistry, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is known as one of the “super-engineering plastics” and is used as an intervertebral disk spacer in the body. PEEK has a hydrophobic surface (water contact angle (WCA) > 80°) and high chemical resistance, and it is thus difficult to perform any surface treatment, such as hydrophilization. In this study, we aimed to form a hydrophilic surface on PEEK without coating layers by using hydroprocessing (aqueous solution processing), and we examined the osteoconductivity and anti-inflammatory properties of surface-treated PEEK in vivo compared with Ti implants. The WCA value of PEEK reached ~20° using a combination of immersion in a solution of >16.2 M H₂SO₄ and ultraviolet irradiation (172 nm). In in vivo testing, the hydrophilization of PEEK by surface modification without a coating layer improved the osteoconductivity and anti-inflammatory properties. The relationship between the bone-implant contact ratio and the WCA values of the surface-modified PEEK agreed well with that of the surface-treated Ti.

Polyetheretherketone, Hydrophilization, Protein Adsorption, Osteoconductivity, Inflammatory

Kuroda, K. , Igarashi, K. , Kanetaka, H. and Okido, M. (2018) Surface Modification of PEEK and Its Osteoconductivity and Anti-Inflammatory Properties. Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology, 9, 233-243. doi: 10.4236/jbnb.2018.93013.